Rose Beecham

After a year's leave of absence in New York, Detective Inspector Amanda Valentine returns to Wellington, New Zealand just in time for the most sensational homicide of the year.

The body of Sybil Knight, daughter of a former Ambassador to the United States, has been found trussed and battered in a private room in a lesbian sex club. Amanda soon finds herself caught between a voracious media and a powerful family determined to cover up the facts.

Originally from New York City, Amanda moved to the other side of the planet to escape memories of her lover's brutal death in the precinct house where Amanda worked as a homicide detective.

Now the highest ranked female cop in sleepy New Zealand, she is in pursuit of a monster the press has dubbed the Garbage Dump Killer and her task force has been resoundingly unsuccessful. To make matters worse, Jezebel, an informer Amanda cares about, has been savagely beaten for reasons she is too terrified to divulge.

When two year old Corban Foley is kidnapped from his home in the dead of night and a goat's head left on the front lawn, most of Montezuma County turns out for the search.

But nothing is at it seems with this case, and Detective Jude Devine soon finds herself caught up in a small-town soap opera whose players seem more interested in their fifteen minutes of fame than in the fate of little Corban. With the media snapping at her heels, she can barely conduct the investigation let alone have a private life. Her lesbianism isn't the only secret she must hide-and it just got harder.

Montezuma County Sheriff's detective, Jude Devine doesn't face too many challenges based in remote Paradox Valley, where most of the crime involves hiker assaults, campsite thefts, and cattle rustling. However, when the body of local teenager, Darlene Huntsberger shows up with a stake through her heart and missing her tongue, Jude finds herself leading an investigation no one wants to touch. Darlene was a member of a Utah polygamist cult with powerful allies; a cult that silences women who try to leave.

The son of a Baptist preacher, Bryce Petty looked like a choir boy. But when he is found murdered in Wellington, New Zealand, his less-than-angelic past becomes front-page news. President of the Melbourne-based gay and lesbian broadcasting firm, Spectrum Television, Bryce has left behind him a trail of debts and a slew of enemies.

About the Author

Rose Beecham is the mystery pen name of best-selling lesbian romance writer Jennifer Fulton, who is a recipient of the 2006 Alice B. Readers' Appreciation Award.

Born in beautiful New Zealand, the author now resides in the Midwest with her partner and a menagerie of animals. When she is not writing or reading, she loves to explore the mountains and prairies near her home, a landscape eternally and wonderfully foreign to her.